MusicMaster Blog

Scheduling from A Different Time Zone

By Jesus Rodriguez

It appears that with COVID and the unfortunate downsizing in our industry, there are more music schedulers doing logs for stations outside of their location. Some are scheduling for stations located in a completely different time zone. While some are scheduling music remotely, accessing a local machine at the station, or sending backups to each other so that the local office can export the logs. Others are doing everything from their home computer or office location while exporting the log directly to the station across the country.

So, what is the big issue, you ask? Many are exporting the same log to multiple stations and need for the shows to air at the same local time. For example, if you were scheduling in Los Angeles for New York, then the LA midnight hour is heard at 3 am in New York.

You could focus on having one log and share it among your other stations without any concern that your “Tune in at midnight tonight” show promo will be accurate with no problem that the show will air at 3 am because of your time zone difference. You probably already realized it takes a load of work off your plate by reading the last sentence not to manage two different databases.

The export design can assist you with this hurdle by using Time Shift located in the MusicMaster Export Designer. You can find this in the Start menu under “MusicMaster”. Open this and pick your station. Next, go to File then Design Properties. In the Misc. section, find “Time Shift Hours”.

You can export your New York copy of the log with by putting a 3 in Time Shift, which will export everything three hours back. This feature will help have a mirrored programming for any time zone where you share your logs. If you were in New York sending it the other way to LA, you would add a minus sign -3 in your Time Shift.

“But what about my sweepers? They are different at both markets that will never work for us!” I hear you loud and clear with have to answer for that too called Virtual Breaks. This feature allows you to select the correct sweepers for the proper export. Here is a video tutorial on that topic. https://youtu.be/73_7_74aYvE

Combined, these options give you the control to schedule your logs so they’ll sound the way you need them no matter what the time zone.

If you have any questions, reach out to your Music Scheduling Consultant.